Popular passages

Page 283 - Bowl), from thence it [283] turns south, having some obstructions to its safe navigation, and receiving many tributaries in its course to Colville, among which are the Kootanie, or Flat Bow, and the Flat Head or Clarke river from the east, and that of Colville from the west.

Page 46 - A council was therefore assembled to consider the matter. The man of strange words was summoned before it ; and he rehearsed, in substance, what he had before told to others; but was not believed. "All men were red, and therefore he could not have seen men as pale as ashes. The Great Spirit made the thunder and the lightning; he therefore could not have seen men of any color that could produce it. He had seen nothing; he had lied to his chief, and should die.

Page 304 - The fur-bearing animals are decreasing in numbers yearly, particularly south of the parallel of 48°; indeed it is very doubtful whether they are sufficiently numerous to repay the expense of hunting them. The Hudson's Bay Company have almost the exclusive monopoly of this business. They have decreased, owing to being hunted without regard to season. This is not, however, the case to the north; there the Company have been left to exercise their own rule, and prevent the indiscriminate slaughter of...

Page 138 - ... build, plant an orchard, and do all the other laborious acts of opening a plantation on the face of that distant wilderness; learn an Indian language and do the duties, meanwhile, of a physician to the associate stations on the Clear Water and Spokan.

Page 253 - An annual council, composed of the governor-general, chief factors and chief traders, is held at York Factory. Before this body are brought the reports of the trade of each district ; propositions for new enterprises, and modifications of old ones; and all these and other matters deemed important, being acted upon, the proceedings had thereon and the reports from the several districts are forwarded to the Board of Directors in London, and subjected to its final order. "This shrewd company never allow...

Page 258 - These are employed a part of the year in various kinds of trade about the coast and the islands of the North Pacific, and the remainder of the time in bringing goods from London, and bearing back the furs for which they are exchanged.

Page 289 - No part of the world affords finer inland sounds, or a greater number of harbors, than are found within the Straits of Juan de Fuca, capable of receiving the largest class of vessels, and without a danger in them which is not visible. From the rise and fall of the tides (18 feet) every facility is offered for the erection of works for a great maritime nation. The country also affords as many sites for water-power as any other.

Page 284 - The Lewis is not navigable, even for canoes, except in reaches. The rapids are extensive and of frequent occurrence. It generally passes between the Rocky mountain spurs and the Blue mountains. It receives the Kooskooske, Salmon, and several other rivers, from the east and west — the former from the Rocky mountains, the latter from the Blue mountains — and, were it navigable, would much facilitate the intercourse with this part of the country.

Page 128 - The willows were beat, and buffalo robes spread over them. Underneath were laid other robes, on which my Indian host seated himself with his wife and children on one side, and myself on the other. A fire burned brightly in front. Water was brought, and the evening ablutions having been performed, the wife presented a dish of meat to her husband, and one to myself. There was a pause. The woman seated herself between her children. The Indian then bowed his head and prayed to God ! A wandering savage...